Quantic Dream Is Making A Star Wars Game. Here's Why They're The Worst Choice
Star Wars games are saddled on practically every corner, what with the classic 1977 film spawning one of the most recognisable intellectual properties of all time. It's no surprise that video game companies wanted to get involved - intergalactic tales of good versus evil, laser swords, space wizards, and hypercraft dogfights - it's all there. It's no wonder that gaming companies wanted to get a slice of the far, far away action, even besides the massive payout it will naturally come with.
The future of Star Wars games recently got much brighter too, as it was announced that Respawn Entertainment, the team behind Apex Legends and Titanfall, was taking the reins on a myriad of intergalactic titles, including the long-awaited Jedi: Fallen Order sequel. There's a lot to come, and lots to expect - but there's one detail that has confused fans.
A new action-adventure game is coming to the Star Wars universe in the shape of Star Wars Eclipse, a title set in the newly established High Republic era. The teaser seems intriguing by itself, but one company's attachment to the project has come with a collective sigh.
Quantic Dream, the company behind Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls, and Heavy Rain are taking the reins on a 'multiple-character branding narrative game' set in the Star Wars universe, presumably helmed by disgraced director David Cage. Of every upcoming Star Wars game, Eclipse has the most potential to be a complete catastrophe, that could threaten to cheapen the mythos of the long-standing sci-fi series of games, and embarrass the fresh legacy of the High Republic era of storytelling. And as you can imagine, I'm not best pleased about it.
The High Republic Has Immense Storytelling Capabilities. Quantic Dream Do Not
Click to enlargeStar Wars Eclipse is likely to be the very first we'll see of the High Republic era, the golden age of Jedi at a time of the Galactic Republic's height set many years before the events we've seen in the films, following the line of novels and comics that began in 2021 with Charles Soule's Light of the Jedi. The High Republic is an era that frames the Jedi as a religious order with poise and grace, who maintain peace across the galaxy without ever coming across as brutalist super-cops. There is a lot to offer in the era of the High Republic, and Quantic Dream has made a tall order making the first visual interpretation of the era that was regarded as 'woke fan-fiction' and 'not real Star Wars' upon reveal, simply because a woman took centre stage in Light of the Jedi's cover.
Quantic Dream has a habit of presenting political ideas in their games, but without ever presenting them with enough gravity to force the player to make a decision on them. Most notable is the climactic moment in Detriot: Become Human, where if the right choices are made, deviant android Markus rallies androids from across the city to march through the streets, purposefully echoing Martin Luther King's famous March on Washington in support of a strong civil rights bill.
The implication is that the cause of the deviant androids is equal to that of people suffering through societal and institutional racism in the 1940s - yet presenting the mere image does nothing to further the cause of the androids beyond the player's prior knowledge of the march itself, and making this heavy comparison become yet another staple of Quantic Dream's attitudes - levelling everything they present with a "maybe", giving the player the option to disregard denouncements of racism, lest it impact their final thoughts on the game.
This moment, in particular, makes Quantic Dream seem afraid to make real statements, very much flying in the face of George Lucas' intentions with the original Star Wars, who in writing the film compared the Empire to America and the Rebels to the Viet Cong, in a bold statement on the Vietnam War. The limitlessness of the Star Wars galaxy and the limits of both Quantic Dream's gameplay limitations, and unwillingness to step too far from the middle of the road, very much seem like they could be at war. And that certainly doesn't bode well for Eclipse.
Quantic Dream's Gameplay Style Will Restrict The Star Wars Mythos
Click to enlargeIf you've played any one of Quantic Dream's games, you've experienced their gameplay loop. Much akin to Telltale's gameplay structure, a lot of their titles focus heavily on the choices that you make, impacting the story and often killing off primary characters for good if you make a mistake or take a wrong turn.
It's a tried and true gameplay style when telling the kinds of stories that Quantic Dream is comfortable with - but with a galaxy as expansive as that of Star Wars, it's reasonable to have reservations about that same gameplay adapting to the High Republic. Quantic Dream have the opportunity to excel in small, human stories - but is that really what Star Wars is about? The stories set in the galaxy far, far away, though so vast in numbers they're impossible to paint with the same moral brush, bolster unity and strength in numbers above most else. Small stories about individuals across the galaxy are welcome without doubt, which is thankfully what we're likely to see in upcoming Disney+ series, but as the first step into the endless possibilities saddled in the High Republic, now is not the time for it, nor is a video game the vessel for it.
The game's trailer is mighty and grand, boasting lightsaber fights, tribal drum circles and space shuttles tearing across the rivers of different planets. They look ready to tell a big story that stretches the entire galaxy, which is likely to be restricted by QD's gameplay fashion - unless they're trying something new. It'd be promising to see if the company moved away from what they're comfortable with, but equally unnerving to be taking such a plunge with such a gargantuan IP, with a fan base that would have David Cage's head if the gamble becomes a blunder. Quantic Dream is unlikely to win here, and fans are right to be nervous.
Quantic Dream Could Tank The High Republic
Click to enlargeEven when discounting some of the egregious and nauseatingly offensive things allegedly said and perpetrated by company lead David Cage, and the wretched controversy of the leaked nude scene starring Elliot Page in Beyond: Two Souls that was developed without his consent, Quantic Dream remain a bizarre choice for any Star Wars project - especially one that's set to introduce the High Republic to the franchise's mainstream audiences.
Their approach to making games is restrictive to the point of bringing the ethos of Star Wars into question, and their lack of dedication to important messaging implies that this experience is set to be a forgettable one - which is deeply disappointing to recount with the potential of The High Republic being so high. The other upcoming Star Wars games could yet be remarkable - but can they detract from the potential damage dealt by Quantic Dream?
